The IndyCar crowd on the main straight enjoy the NTT IndyCar Series' first race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

The upcoming April 8 issue of Autoweek magazine features an exclusive interview with Circuit of the Americas CEO Bobby Epstein, who was very pleased with the addition of the NTT IndyCar Series to the beautiful road course located in the Texas Hill Country.

Epstein and COTA officials would not confirm total attendance for last Sunday’s IndyCar Classic at COTA. But with 5,000 paddock passes sold out and a Muse concert drawing more than 10,000 fans at the Austin360 Ampitheater, race day attendance was estimated at more than 30,000.

Many of those fans did not watch from the grandstands, choosing to walk around the race course and check out other viewing options. That is in contrast to the estimated 80,000 who attend the United States Grand Prix Formula 1 round at COTA every year.

Epstein told Autoweek on Sunday night that he was pleased with the crowd for Sunday’s race and said it was at the “upper end of our projections.”

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Motorsport Images-LAT

Track boss Bobby Epstein is a co-founder of Circuit of the Americas.

“The thing about the venue that a lot of people don’t realize is people like to wander,” Epstein told Autoweek. “They have some of their favorite hills and want to watch in the turns, so they aren’t really sitting in their grandstand seat. We realized that when we priced the IndyCar ticket. There wasn’t really a difference if you had general admission or had a ticket.

“Most of the people you saw on hillsides had reserved seats somewhere else. But people wander around and meet their friends at a different turn.

“When you spread that crowd out over 3 miles, it gets lost in the actual size of the crowd.”

IndyCar officials allowed the drivers to run the course without any “track limits.” That meant places outside of the white lines, including the runoff areas in the turns, could be used as part of the race course. That is similar to the old days of the Indianapolis 500 when there was a paved apron inside the four turns at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and drivers often used the apron as part of their racing line.

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Motorsport Images-LAT

Colton Herta made history by becoming IndyCar's first winner at COTA.

By creating new lines of racing that were outside of the track limits, it made for a wildly competitive show throughout the field.

There were 189 passes throughout the 24-car field, including 144 passes for position. Marco Andretti started 20th and improved to sixth, the biggest move up the field of any driver in the race.

“That is something they wanted their drivers to be comfortable with,” Epstein said. “That was IndyCar’s decision. I personally prefer to see them stay in the lines the track was designed for. The guys found some new lines around the track and took some liberties in areas that others might not have been allowed to or have done. But all in all, it made for a pretty spectacular event.

“Everyone is happy. I hope the fans are happy. We’re happy, and I know the IndyCar guys are good. The drivers, the only time they had problems is when they drove off track limits, but that made for the change in the race.”

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Motorsport Images-LAT

Team Penske's Simon Pagenaud pits on the main straight at Circuit of the Americas.

IndyCar raced on the same layout used by Formula 1 -- the 20-turn, 3.41-mile road course. Epstein said he had offered IndyCar a modified track design that would have shortened the course and reduced the length of time per lap, but the drivers and series preferred to stick to the original F1 design.

“We gave them an option that was a little bit different in the turn 6 area,” Epstein said. “That was their call. If you are going compare two cars side by side on performance and speed alone, then the Formula 1 car is going to turn in the faster speed. Whether that makes for more competitive racing is a different thing.

“We gave them an option of a different course, but no one saw the purpose in spending the extra money for that. And I think the drivers love running on this course the way it is designed.”

COTA is easily one of the most magnificent racing venues in North America. No expense was spared in creating a facility that successfully lured Formula 1 back to the United States in 2012.

But it hasn’t come easily.

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In February, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott denied COTA of at least $20 million from Texas' Major Event Reimbursement Programs for the 2018 Formula 1 race due to what is believed to be a paperwork snafu. According to local reports, the decision came after COTA failed to meet its deadline to submit a human trafficking prevention plan, which must be turned in no later than 30 days before an event.

In previous years, COTA has received $18 million to $27 million in reimbursements following the Grand Prix events. COTA officials say the antitrafficking plan was on file for other events throughout the year.

"In April of 2018, the Circuit of the Americas operations team developed a human trafficking plan to be included in the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for the 2018 MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas. That plan stayed in place throughout the entire 2018 race season,” said a COTA statement in February.

COTA says it hopes the 2018 issues can still be resolved, as the reimbursement for the 2017 USGP was not paid until 10 months after the event.

"The state of Texas and COTA have a productive partnership that has had a tremendous economic impact on the city of Austin and the state as a whole," said the governor's press secretary, John Wittman. "Our office is already working with COTA on next year's race."

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Autoweek asked Epstein if that loss of funds would impact the IndyCar race.

“That does not affect this event,” Epstein said. “It can affect the health of the track overall, which inadvertently affects this, but we’re not going to talk about that.”

So how does COTA make a profit?

“You struggle to,” Epstein admitted. “You make the profits on what you do away from the big race weekends. The track has driving experiences and is booked almost 300 days a year with driving experiences. You put on music festivals. We’ve had 34 concerts. The karting track does great. The races themselves are always a gamble.

“We are always ready for bigger crowds. We keep seeing the campgrounds grow and that’s good. NASCAR certainly understands the value of fans staying for the weekend in campers, but you don’t see that in Formula 1. It was fun to see IndyCar bring the camper crowd.”

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Epstein is a 53-year-old businessman and entrepreneur and one of the original founding partners of Circuit of the Americas. Despite the financial obstacles, he believes the facility has a bright future in both Formula 1 and IndyCar.

“I’m a fan of events and sports, and I’ve been fortunate to be involved in all kinds,” Epstein said. “When this opportunity came up, look at what it does for the community and city, it’s been a good project. It’s about racing; it’s about music; it’s about sports. I just like big events and seeing people have a good time.

“You have great track designers, and that is great for the racing, but it’s what happens outside those lines that we have been able to focus on and that is putting on something the fans enjoy. It doesn’t take a racing background for that. Sometimes, it’s better if you come at it with a fresh look.”

COTA joined the IndyCar Series schedule only after IndyCar CEO Mark Miles was able to cut a deal with Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage to lift the geographic exclusivity clause in his contract. In return, Gossage and TMS got a reduced sanctioning fee.

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Gossage has been a longtime, outspoken critic of COTA because he believes the track’s location cuts into his potential fanbase. The distance between the two racing venues is 221 miles, about a three-hour, 26-minute car ride.

COTA hosted IndyCar last weekend. This weekend, NASCAR is at Texas Motor Speedway.

“We want to see that track do well because it’s good for the sport,” Epstein said of TMS. “We don’t want one event to be at the expense of another. We’ve made them different enough. Look at the East Coast and there are many races that are within a four- or five-hour drive of each other.

“We happen to be pretty far apart. If you look at the ZIP codes of our ticket buyers, I don’t think there was nearly the amount of overlap that people feared with the speedway there.”

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